On the occasion of the Sandy Hook school massacre, Forbes Magazine wrote: "Why Every American Ought to See the Paintings of Gottfried Helnwein"

On Dec 28th Forbes Magazine published an article by Jonathon Keats under the heading: "The True Impct of Violence on Childhood? Why Every American Ought to See the Paintings of Gottfried Helnwein".
"Two days after the Sandy Hook school massacre, a survival gear company called Black Dragon Tactical composed a new slogan to promote sales of armored backpack inserts. “Arm the teachers,” the company declared on Facebook. “In the meantime, bulletproof the kids... The question may be political, but the keenest response is to be found in a museum in Mexico City, the Museo Nacional de San Carlos, at a retrospective of paintings and photographs by the Austrian-American artist Gottfried Helnwein. Helnwein’s extraordinary work depicts the fragile innocence of children. Devoid of grown-up sentimentalism, his images can be overwhelming, especially those that show how that innocence falters in an adult world."